Alleged violin thief also robbed a bank, prosecutors say, with note that said 'please' and 'thx'

LOS ANGELES — The violins were expensive — and very, very old.

They included a Caressa & Francais, dated 1913 and valued at $40,000. A $60,000 Gand & Bernardel, dated 1870. And a 200-year-old Lorenzo Ventapane violin, worth $175,000.

For more than two years, federal prosecutors allege, Mark Meng stole high-end violins across the country — ingratiating himself to vendors by posing as a collector who merely wanted to borrow and try them out, then ghosting those vendors and reselling them to an unknowing violin dealer in Los Angeles.

The 57-year-old Irvine man — who also is accused of robbing a bank with a pithy thank-you note and fleeing in a white minivan — now faces charges of wire fraud and bank robbery, according to a federal complaint filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The violin scheme, prosecutors allege, ran from August 2020 through April 2023.

During that time, Meng reached out to violin shops, saying he wanted to take the instruments on loan for a trial period to figure out if he wanted to buy them.

He "gained the trust of these stores by representing himself as a collector, and in some cases, he purchased violin bows before asking for violin trial periods," the complaint reads.

In each encounter, he allegedly kept the instrument beyond the trial-basis period, "provided excuses" for the delay, and negotiated a price for the violin. He then would send the violin shop a check that would bounce — after which he would send a new hot check, pretend he mailed the instrument back and the mailer carrier lost it, or simply stop communicating.

Meng allegedly stole at least four violins, including a 1903 Guilio Degani worth $55,000, as well as a bow by esteemed bow maker François Lotte valued at $7,500.

In October 2023, Meng was questioned by agents from the FBI regarding the stolen violins.

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